What can I say more? Preordered through Origin didn't get the early beta access. Haven't missed anything since only the last 2 days were real fun - Caspian. Now this. Three days?! At least it's on Friday so we'll have the weekend to enjoy.

We demanded your questions, you provided them, and Toby put some of the ones that weren’t total raging nerdisms to Battlefield 3 creative director, Lars Gustavsson. Charge!

Question: Does he feel that some creative aspects of BF3 have been affected by the current popularity and trend of the Modern Warfare style of FPS, while maintaing the spirit and important elements of the Battlefield franchise ie comments that the Metro map are more similar in style and gameplay to MW than previous BF?
- Drakand

Lars: Ah… I guess we’re always inspired by the world around us, but when we build games – and we’ve been building Battlefield for 12 years now – we focus on our way. If you run your race and look at your competitors, then you’re bound to stumble and fall. Yes, we take inspiration from movies, games, and books, but I wouldn’t say that we go around changing our design in fear of competitors or anything. I only fear what’s living in my cupboard back home!

games.on.net: A popular consensus seems to be that Operation Metro plays very much like CoD.
Lars: I mean, with the open beta, you can probably see our train of thought. We showed Operation Metro at E3, then Caspian Border at Gamescom, and now the open beta. We try to get data out of both of them. They are each other’s counterparts. One is infantry-focused, tight combat, and one is that typical all-out war. But going back through our games throughout the years, you’ve had Stalingrad, you’ve had Karkand; many of these levels that have been more infantry-focused. So I wouldn’t call it CoD-esque. I’d call it another flavour of Battlefield.

What was the reasoning for cutting private servers/LAN?
- Matty829

Lars: I would say, like this: When we ship the game, that’s where it all starts. Many times the perception is when we ship the game, that’s the end of it, this what we’re going to get. That’s totally not it. If people know DICE and our previous titles, Battlefield 2 is still out there, alive. So yeah, good things come to those who wait.

With the BF3 Beta build so old and with most of the issues that were raised by testers already patched for the final build, what was the point of the beta? Was it to test back end infrastructure, netcode and battlelog? Or was it a thinly disguised demo to build demand for the game or did it serve another purpose?
- xanarax
Lars: I would say, especially the first chunk there with checking servers, checking backend… it’s rare that you get the possiblity to have this many gamers in there to test your backend before launch. With 1943, we totally underestimated the onslaught of happy customers, so we don’t want to repeat that again. So for us, it’s been a huge success to get all these people in there to game and of course also give us feedback on things in and around the game.

games.on.net: Have the changes from then ‘til now been drastic or minor?
Lars: When it comes to the actual game, there’s already been… I mean, we branched off the open beta build a long time ago, so we already tweaked and tuned that and did so many changes and polish. Putting up lists of them, it’s almost impossible! Overall we still take all the feedback seriously so we can kind of run through it. We talk to the community, gather this feedback, and see if there’s things that we have missed out.

games.on.net: And what kind of things do you think you’ve missed out?
Lars: Eh… there’s definitely input in a lot of areas that makes us wonder, and makes us look ahead and see maybe this is something for down the road. But it’s also about staying a bit cool, and not kind of overreacting. It’s very easy when you make games, where a competitor comes out or shows a movie of their upcoming game. It’s all CG, you don’t know what it’s going to be, but everyone gets nervous everywhere. Sometimes you just need to have a little faith in yourself, and this time around to take in the feedback from the community, and then when we ship the final game, we’ll see if we still have issues or not. Since when the game gets out there and more people start playing it, it really… it changes from day to day. People have a tendency to apply new tactics where, for example, the level stalls, and it’s about not being totally nervous and trying to change everything all the time to the latest and greatest.

What inspired the move to a more abstract and significantly less informative HUD design compared to previous Battlefield games? Specifically the move to a non-persistent single colour text chat box
- Yurtles

Lars: Okay. That text chat box is just a rudimentary implementation. It’s not the final one by far. It was just put in there to give you an idea.

News coming out of DICE, is that PC Voip will not be run in-game, but will be handled by a module running from Battlelog (similar to console voip running outside of the game), but it only has the ability to talk to people in your pre-defined battlelog party (i.e friends only), not other random players in the team/squad. Can you confirm this?, and if so - why the active step away from active cooperation between team/squad-mates if they are not your friends?
- Sphinx2000

Lars: That is true for what we will ship with, but of course we’ll look into what will happen in the future.

In regards to 64-player matches, why is the squad size limited to 4 players? I feel the large 64-player Conquest maps warrant a return of BF2's 6-man squads. Is there any chance of this happening?
- tranquil

Lars: At launch we will ship with four players, and the main thinking here has been to not create any magic rabbit holes. You know, there is a certain satisfaction to actually being able to wipe a squad in order to take a flag. So yeah, we will ship with four players.

games.on.net: I’m sensing a recurring theme to these answers of yours…
Lars: All the changes we do, we do for a reason. It’s not like we have a big hat and we write down lots of solutions and then draw them. There’s always a lot of thinking that goes into this.

Given that females are now allowed to serve in combat roles in many armies are there any plans to introduce a female skin?
- me109

Lars: That’s not in the plan, no. It’s something we’ve been talking about since, I think, even Battlefield 1942. There weren’t that many women fighting in active duty during those days. But overall, short answer: No.

Will there be a DAY/NIGHT time cycle throughout maps? I watched a demonstration video of the engine showing this feature off. Obviously it would be awesome to have in the game!!! So please do it!!!
- Vagiclean

Lars: No. It’s definitely been part of the demo to show what the engine can do. There’s definitely changes of light as levels progess and so on, but we don’t, as far as I know, work with the full day/night cycle. Especially not in multiplayer.

Will it be possible to practice flying without having to be in an active multiplayer server? Such as a large training map or something of the sorts so people can hone their skills in the flying vehicles.
- Giblet1

Lars: Nothing in the game at launch, sadly.

games.on.net: It seems like people want a a lot out of this game. They want everything!
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Wanting is good!

games.on.net: But are you worried that expectations may be too high for you to ever reach them?
Lars: When I go to bed at night, I sleep well based on the fact that we have played the game every day in the office. It is a great game, it’s rock solid, a very organic experience. The vehicles are better than ever. We, as well, want to do everything – but usually, the studios that crash and burn are the ones that try to do everything. I would say it’s a touch of the mature studio mentality that stops us from going completely haywire!

If you left beta feedback, chances are Daniel Matros read it and filed it.

After countless hours of Operation Metro and Caspian Border in the Battlefield 3 beta, we chat to Global Battlefield Community Manager Daniel Matros and Creative Director Lars Gustavsson from DICE about the impact it will have on the retail release.

PCPP: Do you feel the beta has been a success? Did you get the data you needed?

Matros: When first making an initiative to launch a beta, you have to have launch plans. It’s a huge puzzle. I would say that any beta is not really representative of the final game, but it’s getting there. The “puzzle” we had, as a beta, was very successful indeed. We’ve gathered a lot of good stats; a lot of good telemetry. We’ve analysed player behaviour on Battlelog, as well as on Origin, as well as in the game itself and on the servers.

So I feel the beta was very good. We made a lot of mechanical fixes and changes to the final game from the beta, based on player feedback. The final version is going to play a little bit differently than the beta.

The biggest takeaway, from my opinion, is definitely the stability of the servers. You could say we had a tidal wave of people joining the servers at once, and connecting to Battlelog. You could see the graphs spiking ninety degrees upwards. And it shows where we stand in the industry right now, and where we were before. People are still playing the 1942 beta – so obviously we’re doing something right!

How do you sort through all the beta feedback and find the key points that are actually worth taking on board?

Matros: We have something called telemetry gathering. Player behaviour, in the alpha and the beta – everything goes into our system. How long this player stays alive, the weapons he uses, and how many times per round the MCOM is armed and disarmed – that kind of stuff.

So depending upon our telemetry, as well as the magnitude of the feedback, we’ll feel the need to do the changes or the fixes. Of course, there are always core features of the game, such as the Commo Rose, that – if we say this is a true successor to Battlefield 2 – then, of course, in all honesty that should be in the game. But then, it all relates to our logic for the game: how we want the game to be perceived as well.

So it’s the magnitude, and our own research, that determines what needs to be implemented.

Do you find that the telemetry is more important than the verbal feedback?

Matros: The telemetry shows a non-personal standpoint, because it’s data. It doesn’t have feelings. It can’t explain stuff to you. It’s easier to read.

When it comes to people telling you stuff, they can always tell you how they perceive it, from their opinion. And, of course, when you have a couple million players, not everyone is going to share the same opinion.

I literally received two tweets this past ten minutes. One said, “Please nerf the weapons”. The other said, “No, no, weapon damage was good! Keep it!”

One of them was probably getting killed more than the other…

Matros: It’s very different as to how people perceive things. And it’s also based on what weapon you get shot with the most, where do you usually go on the maps, how do you usually flank. I think, without having spent a certain amount of hours on the battlefield, you can’t really leave feedback regarding everything. You really need to be an all-round player, or having played a certain amount of hours having specialised in what you want to get across to the studio.

Matros: We do separate it through different feedback departments, and we have different community managers all over the world working on console and PC feedback. The feedback isn’t quite different; mostly they want different things changed. I think, finding a magical balance where it doesn’t compromise any gameplay features for the certain people who play on different platforms is key.

Do you want to keep the platforms as unified as possible when it comes to balance and game mechanics?

Gustavsson: It’s not a self-driven goal that we set up, it’s more that we want to make the most of the possibilities that we have on each SKU. Whatever you buy, you should be a really happy customer. Yes, we could deliver 24 players on console with just as many flags as we have on 64-player PC, but it would be worse gameplay.

How does the game determine who will be the Squad Leader?

Gustavsson: Whoever creates the squad.

And you can also join a server as a squad through Battlelog?

Gustavsson: Yes. Whoever creates that in Battlelog will also be the Squad Leader.

Is there any way to change the Squad Leader mid-game? Perhaps promoting someone if you don’t want the role anymore?

Gustavsson: At launch, we won’t have any promotion or demotion system. But down the road, who knows.

If you play in Hardcore mode, we will have the spawn only on the Squad Leader

What spawn system have you settled on for squads? It was mentioned earlier that squad members would only be able to spawn on the Squad Leader, but in the beta, everyone could spawn on everyone.
Gustavsson: Retail will be everyone can spawn on everyone, plus the Recon radio beacon. If you play in Hardcore mode, we will have the spawn only on the Squad Leader.

When not in Hardcore mode, what special role does the Squad Leader fulfil, if not acting as a spawn point?

Gustavsson: The main thinking here is that he’s the guy who gives the orders. And you’ll be rewarded for following them. And then we spread out things that we previously had as the Commander to the different classes. So they can still have everything provided on the battlefield, but in a different form. So the thinking is to not get stuck and dependant on a single person who then defines whether it’s a good or a bad server.

Matros: I got it explained to me by the team that it’s a more forgiving system that we have now, because everyone can deploy their own type of Commander. It makes the battlefield more dynamic, instead of someone sitting in a corner spamming right mouse click and supplies like I did. If you make a mistake, as one person within this Commander battalion, it doesn’t affect the outcome of the game. It still leaves it up to stuff that can happen on the Battlefield.

Can you clarify what differences Hardcore mode introduces?

Gustavsson: Overall, it’s similar to previous setups we’ve had before. It’s affecting damage modifiers; it’s affecting nametags, and the GUI. We keep the minimap, because we still have so many gadgets that are dependent upon it, which would become useless otherwise. But spotting, nametags of enemies, a lot of these things that give you additional information.

On PC, there will be [a full map overlay] in the final game

Will the retail release have a full map overlay? The beta only allowed players to expand the minimap slightly.

Gustavsson: On PC, there will be in the final game. So you press M and you get the full map.

Any chance of being able to see pings mid-match, such as on the scoreboard?

Gustavsson: It’s probably on the list of things to address as soon as possible post-launch, but we’re really focused on key areas that hit the masses. But we do have the full understanding for people who want it.

Did the Battlefield Heroes and Play 4 Free web interfaces influence the decision to make Battlefield 3’s interface entirely web-driven through Battlelog?

Gustavsson: I wonder which came first – the chicken or the egg? It’s been in the making for a long time. Of course, we’re all seated in the same house, so there were talks going on. But I think Battlelog is very unique, because it has a lot of features that Play 4 Free doesn’t have.

How is the “skill” stat on the leaderboard calculated?

Matros: I would like to know that too!

Gustavsson: We have an underlying system in that which we partially use for matchmaking, but we also add other values to it.

Recently, IGN was able to preview the retail version of Battlefield 3. Two multiplayer demonstrations were given by Producers Patrick Bach, and Alex Grondal who show off two new MP maps, Operation Firestorm and Grand Bazaar. We’ve taken some stills from these two videos to capture a few interesting differences from the Beta that will be making it into the retail version of Battlefield 3. To view a full screen image of each picture, click on the image twice. <see original article for pictures>

The squad leader once again plays a more prominent role. According to Patrick Bach, players can only spawn on the squad leader. This leader also has the options to give orders. Also, both in-game and in-menu, it is now possible to see what specialization each squad member has equipped. This will obviously come in to play more prominently once players begin unlocking the squad specializations.

Squad specializations are now included to the left of each member while the leader is highlighted with a star.
It is now possible to access the options menu while in the loadout screen.

We need our options.
Service stars now apply to classes, as they do weapons. In the picture below, you can notice that there is now a service star number next to the class, as well as the weapon. There still doesn’t seem to be any options to change your kit while watching the kill-cam. It looks like we still need to wait through it in order to access our loadouts or change options.

Still no loadout menu in the kill-cam.
It is now possible to view your soldier in the loadout tweaking screen, as well as change their appearance (this is most likely for those who have the SPECACT Kit DLC).

Lookin' good soldier.
It’s now possible to view which kit you are picking up off of fallen teammates. It also shows a picture of the weapon you will be picking up if you center your view on the dropped kit.

You can also notice that squad specializations show up in-game.
The location of teammates/squadmates who have recently died now show up on screen, on the mini-map, and in the full map in the loadout screen. It has recently been confirmed that the lightning bolt symbols will still appear for medics while other classes will see the skulls. Also, the distance to your closest objective is now shown on-screen. This applies to both Rush and Conquest.

Skulls in-game and distance to Alpha.

Skull on min-map.

Skull on loadout map.
The on-screen blood splatter has changed from the Beta.

Blood everywhere!
There now seems to be on-screen reminders to either drop health or ammo for squad/teammates, or to request it.

Share your ammo, man!

Gimme some ammo, man!
Ribbons are now crooked!

One of the more important changes from the Beta.
For those who were not fortunate enough (eg. do not own PCs) and did not get to play on the Caspian Border multiplayer map during the Beta, here are some vehicle related pictures that may be of interest.

Transport helicopter.

Tank specs.
What do you think of the changes made? Please let us know in the comments’ section below!

Make sure to Follow @MPFirst on Twitter and ‘like’ us on our brand new Facebook page! Remember, we haven’t watermarked any of these pictures, but we trust you’ll give MP1st proper credit!

Ready to see the final five multiplayer maps included in Battlefield 3? We talked to the multiplayer team at DICE about the concept behind each map, and how they decided which maps made the cut into the final game.

FICTION> THE BATTLE FOR CENTRAL TEHRAN HAS REACHED ITS SECOND WEEK, AND WHAT WAS EXPECTED TO BE OVER WITHIN DAYS NOW CONTINUES AS RUSSIAN AND U.S. FORCES CLASH FOR CONTROL OVER THIS ANCIENT CITY.
DESIGN THOUGHTS> We knew we wanted to do something very urban in the city center of Tehran. The fiction has you coming in two weeks after fighting started, so the tight and narrowly built city has a great deal of destruction already when you spawn into the game. Grand Bazaar is a classically mirrored map where both sides have very similar pathways, sideways, and possibilities to traverse heights to get a better view of the action. It’s a very short range close quarter combat map where shotguns tend to be favored.

FICTION> A RECON RUSSIAN FORCE HAS SET UP CAMP ON THE TURKMENISTAN SIDE OF THE IRANIAN BORDER AND PROCEEDED TO TAKE OVER THE HEAVILY BUILT UP BORDER CHECKPOINT.
DESIGN THOUGHTS> Caspian Border was meant to encapsulate the classic Battlefield all-out vehicle warfare gameplay, and also to be a lush and green contrast to the more urban and desert maps in Battlefield 3. The border control splitting the map in two was introduced to add an interesting break both visually and gameplay wise in the otherwise beautiful and open landscape. Caspian Border is one of the obvious map choices if you are after the full vehicle experience, as base distances are generally too long to cover by foot. Pretty much every type of vehicle is available in this map.

FICTION> THE AMERICAN INVASION OF RUSSIAN OCCUPIED PARIS IS IN FULL MOTION. THE UPSCALE AREA IN THE 7TH DISTRICT OF PARIS SERVES AS THE BATTLEGROUND.
DESIGN THOUGHTS> Seine Crossing has two sections of Paris split in the middle by the river Seine. Seine Crossing has a number of larger roads for vehicles to patrol, while infantry can sneak through tight alleyways and climb staircases to reach second or third levels inside buildings to reach a better tactical position – unless the enemy takes down the building facades. The final M-COM stations in Rush are placed inside a bank building, which is the largest indoor environments of this map and forces the attackers to slightly change tactics.

FICTION> U.S. MARINES LAUNCH A STRIKE ON A MAJOR HARBOR BY THE NOSHAHR CANALS ON THE IRANIAN COAST. THE STRATEGICALLY IMPORTANT PORT ALLOWS FOR DEEP WATER VESSELS TO OFFLOAD ESSENTIAL MATERIALS.
DESIGN THOUGHTS> When we set out to do Noshahr Canals, we wanted to contrast the urban and rural with something more industrial. So we set Noshahr Canals up as an industrial harbor, featuring a mix of infantry, land vehicle, and boat gameplay. The attackers in Rush start out on an carrier ship and can reach the beachhead by amphibious vehicles, boats, and helicopters. All of the bases on the map have an industrial theme but still have different styles, like a train yard, dry dock, or airfield. Compared with the larger vehicle maps in the game, this allows for tighter infantry combat.

FICTION> KHARG ISLAND IS IRAN’S BIGGEST OIL EXPORT TERMINAL. IF THE U.S. CAN STAKE CONTROL OVER THIS ISLAND, IT WILL DENY THE RUSSIANS CRITICAL ACCESS TO IRANIAN OIL RESERVES.
DESIGN THOUGHTS> Kharg Island is our second map with boat gameplay. Thematically it’s representing an assault against Kharg island in the Persian sea, an industrialized island not far from the Iranian coast. The map is slightly more focused on vehicles with longer distance between flags than for example Noshahar Canals. In the Rush game mode, the beach assault begins on the coastline with a well-defended beach you need to break through to create a beachhead for further attacks on the island, before it opens up wider in the later part of the map.

THIS IS HOW WE DO IT
Creating levels at DICE is a democratic affair, and a process that is ruled in equal amounts by art and gameplay design. This in order to not only get a balanced mix of gameplay variations in the game, but also a variety of visual impressions.

At the start of the design process, the artists mocked up a number of creative briefs together with level designers Inge Jøran Holberg, Diego Jimenez and Niklas Åstrand. These briefs explain the gameplay type and idea, story and visual theme. Everyone on the Battlefield 3 development team was encouraged to vote for their favorites among the briefs and also add ideas of their own. From there, prototypes of the favorite levels were produced in so called “pods” -- pairs with a level designer and artist per map -- so the team could play them to see which ones were the most promising.

Then, the team as a whole weighed the maps against one another to see which ones would make the most compelling and diverse package to ship the game with. We finally ended up with the 9 cherry-picked multiplayer maps you can read all about here today and in yesterday’s blog post. They’re the best of the best, the maps that shone the brightest in our playtests, and the ones that combined bring out everything we want both veteran and new Battlefield players to experience in Battlefield 3 multiplayer.

Oh, and did you know there's a sand castle on one of our maps in Battlefield 3? This classic easter egg has been present in many Battlefield maps through the years. See if you can find it!

its an interview that has questions and answers at least i already knew.

Click to expand...

In regards to 64-player matches, why is the squad size limited to 4 players? I feel the large 64-player Conquest maps warrant a return of BF2's 6-man squads. Is there any chance of this happening?
- tranquil

Lars: At launch we will ship with four players, and the main thinking here has been to not create any magic rabbit holes. You know, there is a certain satisfaction to actually being able to wipe a squad in order to take a flag. So yeah, we will ship with four players.

Example of a shit answer. Doesn't give a direct reason except some vague notion about killing another squad and magic rabbit holes.

In regards to 64-player matches, why is the squad size limited to 4 players? I feel the large 64-player Conquest maps warrant a return of BF2's 6-man squads. Is there any chance of this happening?
- tranquil

Lars: At launch we will ship with four players, and the main thinking here has been to not create any magic rabbit holes. You know, there is a certain satisfaction to actually being able to wipe a squad in order to take a flag. So yeah, we will ship with four players.

Example of a shit answer. Doesn't give a direct reason except some vague notion about killing another squad and magic rabbit holes.

Click to expand...

maybe he they dont want a squad being wiped out. so with having 4 players in squads allows to have more then one of each squad maybe??

Wow just found a spot for Wolves Coyotes, and Mulies all in one spot.
That is my weekend before release. I'm Jacked. Have a killer cabin that
sleeps about 12 people and it is all fam and friends. I know it is off topic ,
but I thought I'd share. MT Alex you can understand my happiness
Except for the politics in my State I love Idaho.

I sure can. If for some strange reason I couldn't live here, Idaho would be my next choice.

Click to expand...

I knew you could Brother ! Maybe a hunting trip some day
Those out of State licences are ridiculous though. Bud Light
until midnight upat 5 am. Smelling like camp fire. Man it's life.
The best thing is my wife loves when I leave now that I'm an Old
ASSHOLE and Shes and Old bitch. No but seruiously it is the best
the times I ever have with my sons. Just like me and my Pops.
He just had no ethics. So I taught that to my boys.
Don't carry on bad habits.

DICE Senior Designer, Fredrik Thylander revealed some interesting information about camo in Battlefield 3 saying there would be 12 unlockable sets. Currently we know about the SPECACT camo set, which is a pre-order bonus for people who pre-order from Best Buy (in North America). It is unknown if the SPECACT camo will become one of these unlockable sets. This would also explain the appearance option that was spotted in a gameplay video earlier this week. Thanks Robbo33 from the EA UK Forums.

U.S. & Russian SPECACT

Fredrik also clarifies some point values for arming and disarming Mcoms in Battlefield 3. 200 points to arm and 500 to destroy. In conquest the flag cap points vary.

This weekend, the NVIDIA GeForce LAN 6 is running and those attending have been lucky enough to play 5 Battlefield 3 Maps. Tomorrow at 4:00PM EST (GMT-5) / 1:00PM PST (GMT-8) we will be hosting a live podcast with [20ID] Daskro who is onboard the carrier for the LAN event. We will be conducting a Q/A with him about the new maps being shown at the event. Expect to hear lots of new details about Operation Firestorm, Grand Bazaar, Damavand Peaks and the changes since the beta in Caspian Border and Operation Metro. From what’ve we’ve heard there is a whole set of changes from the Open beta to the new build. We will be taking questions live in our chat. This a chance to hear about the final build of Battlefield 3 from a long term Battlefield veteran. Many Press sites released little information on these levels.